Plywood and other wood products often have edges that require finishing to improve their appearance and durability. Finishing the exposed edge of plywood has been a problem with unsatisfactory solutions since plywood was invented. Up to now, three main methods have been used to accomplish this task. One method has been to apply edge-banding which is covered with a glue, such as hot-melt-glue. For commercial applications of this method, the requisite equipment has been expensive and takes up considerable floor space. Edge-banding with a hand-held heating iron has been time-consuming. Commercial edge-banding material purchased for this method has been expensive and has required extensive inventories. The result of this method has not been satisfactory because the edge is not as durable as desired. In using the plywood, dragging items across the face of the edged plywood often results in failure of the glue or splintering of the edge-band. This may occur because the edge-band comes flush to the top and bottom surfaces of the plywood and is therefore exposed to physical damage.
A second method has been to apply a plastic T-mold into a machined slot. T-mold has had all of the problems of the first method and, in addition, can detract from the appearance of the finished product because it is not natural wood. The traditional solution has been to add a strip of wood to the edge of the plywood. This strip could be applied by using biscuits or, more commonly, by simply nailing. Although this method uses material already available, a particular problem with this method has been the finished appearance. Whether the finish is natural, stained, or painted, the joint between the wood piece and the plywood is visible, principally because it is on the surface.
Among a number of patents, U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,091 to Koski shows a rotary cutting tool for forming complementary wavy joint surfaces in the edges of panels to be mounted in adjacent relationship to each other. A single tool can form both of the edges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,809 to Cotton et al. shows a device and method for producing workpieces with alternating-contour mating surfaces. Cutting is done by rotating the working tool and displacing it relative to the workpiece. Guidance of the tool is provided by a base member which has a substantially flat surface and a second surface spaced transversely from it. The second surface has two surface portions offset to one another in a transverse direction. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,465 to Cotton et al. shows a router tool and method for producing workpieces with alternating-contour mating surfaces. The routing tool has a working portion having an axis and an outer contour shaped so that in an axial cross-section of the working portion the outer contour includes straight lines arranged in a consecutive order and each extends in a direction substantially along the axis. The angle of the straight line portions is preferably at most 20.degree. with the axis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,134 to Gudeman shows a matched edge jointer used with a router to produce matched edge surfaces of two workpieces. The guide contains an elongated guide bar, an elongated platform mounted and centered longitudinally under the guide bar, an elongated base adjustably mounted under the platform, and means for adjusting the gap between the platform and the base. The two workpieces are alternately worked using opposite sides of the jointer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,718 to Venditto shows a one-piece cutting tool designed to cut both a rail and stile. The top portion of the tool cuts the rail while the lower portion cuts the stile. No portion of the tool cuts both the rail and the stile.
All of these inventions known in the art no doubt perform their intended functions satisfactorily. However, none of the methods or apparatus of the prior art has provided a solution which avoids all the shortcomings described above. Thus there has been a continuing need for an improved method and apparatus for edge-banding plywood.